The City of Sioux Falls is reminding everyone that you can't use tobacco in the public parks when activities are going on for children under the age of 18, and on all City playgrounds.

And they'll get no argument from me.

No, I've never been a smoker, except for the experimenting everyone does when they're young and stupid. But I really--really--dislike being around cigarette smoke, and don't get me started on chewing tobacco, or "snoose," as  people called it when I was a kid growing up among the Scandinavians.

City officials make great arguments for their policy.

They will tell you tobacco causes something like 443-thousand deaths per year in the US, and as such, it's the single most preventable cause of death.

I recall being at a Canaries game a few years ago when a young couple, probably in their 20s, came up and sat near us. And they had no more than sat down when the young man pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

And everyone around him told him to put it out--the grandstand was not and is not a place designated for smokers.

You can get more information from the city if you need it.

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